


Day 1- Decorate

by wolfjc5



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Halloween otp challenge, Spooktacular Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:00:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27231622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfjc5/pseuds/wolfjc5
Summary: Steve just wants to be a normal human being for a day, so he and Natasha find something to do together
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanoff
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Day 1- Decorate

Sunshine streaked through the blinded windows, landing on Steve’s face. Most days he was up before sunrise, but not today. He spent all night on a mission in...

He had no idea. He didn’t even know whether it was day or night most of the time. He kept himself busy. Distracted. He’d go through phases of feeling...tired. Yes, tired. In all honesty, he needed a break. Not a vacation. Captain America wasn’t allowed to take vacation.

But Steve? The man behind the shield. He’s still a human being. A man with limits, and he had reached his. All he needed a day, maybe two, just to recharge and do something normal. Normal. That’s not something he had had in a while. He just wanted to be Steve for a little bit. He didn’t even know where to start. He wracked his brain for something to grasp on to. Anything he thought as ordinary, everyday. He looked at his watch on the table. 

7:23am. He never slept this late, even after a mission. Now he felt late. Late for what? Nothing. He didn’t have any meetings, briefings, training. The day was his. But he needed to do something. His phone lit up. A text came through from Natasha. He rolled over on his side to reach his phone.

You up? 

Yeah. Need something?

She replied a moment later with—

Coffee?

Are you asking me to get you some coffee or if I want some? 

He smirked to himself. Knowing Natasha, it could be either one. 

Come down here and find out ;)

He kicked off his sheets with his feet and got up in one fluid motion. He took long strides toward the door, snagging a grey tee off his desk chair on the way. His heart quickened at the thought of seeing Natasha. He could picture her now, sitting cross legged on the counter with a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, the tendrils of heat rising and swirling in front of her face as she sipped. 

When he reached the kitchen, she was there as he predicted. Cross legged, coffee in hand, and her hood up hiding her curling locks of red. Her eyes lifted up from her cup and landed on Steve. She smiled at him, “Good morning,Steve.” She reached behind her and revealed a second cup of coffee. She offered him the cup. He took it with a grateful smile and a mumbled “thanks”. 

They sipped their coffee in comfortable silence for a minute, and then Natasha spoke, “Got any plans today, Steve?” 

“Kind of, still working on it though.” 

She put her cup down, laced her fingers together and rested her chin on her hands, “Well, color me intrigued. What have you figured out so far?” 

“Uh...” His eyes darted left, right, down, around...

Natasha suppressed a laugh. “So not much, I gather?” 

Steve rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, embarrassed, “I’d say not much at all.” He smiled sheepishly at her, heat rising in his cheeks. “ I just-” he started. 

“Yeah, Steve?”, Natasha prompted.

“I was feeling like I need to do something normal.” He blurted out the words. 

Natasha didn’t react. She stared at Steve for a moment. Time stood still. Steve felt the heat rise even higher. It started in his neck and travelled up to his cheeks, his ears, he was afraid that he’d break into a sweat in a second. He began to turn until her voice broke the silence. 

“I get like that too.” She cleared her throat and continued. “After a long stretch of missions and undercover work, I need to take a day and...recenter. To remember that even though I’m a spy, I can still be a normal person too.” 

Steve was hanging on her every word. All of his focus was on the woman in front of him. “Y-yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, um. He paused. “Any ideas what normal people do?” He joked.

Natasha looked around the kitchen. The sunlight streaming through the window caught her attention. Outside, the trees were half-bare. Red, orange, and yellow leaves littered the ground haphazardly, leaving branches exposed and prominent. October was here, and with it came...

“Halloween.” She declared.  
“Huh?”  
“Now that it’s October, why don’t we decorate for Halloween?” She suggested. 

Steve didn’t hesitate. “Yes, absolutely. Let’s do that.” Steve paused. “ Do we have any decorations?” 

Natasha laughed a little. “I doubt it. So...” she rubbed her hands together. “Let’s go get some.” 

And they did. They found a nearby store and headed straight for the Halloween section. There were aisles and aisles of different decorations. Things for the inside and outside of the house. Skeletons, ghouls, spiders. Cauldrons and creatures lined the aisles. They grabbed anything and everything they could find that caught their attention. Lights tinted like candy corn, skeletons, bats, giant spiders, floating ghosts, a smoking cauldron. They grabbed it all. 

By the time they checked out, their cart was full of goblins, ghouls, ghosts, witches. With every new object they grabbed, Steve seemed to stand up a little taller, a little more spring in his step. When they got home, Steve was practically giddy. There was a new spark in his eyes. He smiled a real smile, one that would cause crow’s feet in a non-super soldier-regenerating body.  
Steve glanced over at Natasha next to him. She was looking up at him, smiling. 

“What?”, he said smiling back at her.

“I’m just glad seeing you like this.” 

“Like what?”, he asked, still smiling.

“Happy”, she put it simply. 

His smile turned shy. “Oh.” The pinkness returned to his cheeks. “Thank you for this, Nat. I really needed it.” 

“I know, Steve. Me too.” She reached out and squeezed his hand with hers. He returned the pressure.


End file.
